International Political Economy Series Transitioning to a Post-Carbon Society Degrowth, Austerity and Wellbeing Edited by Ernest Garcia, Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias and Peadar Kirby International Political Economy Series Series Editor Timothy M. Shaw Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA and Emeritus Professor at the University of London, UK Aims of the Series The global political economy is in flux as a series of cumulative crises impacts its organization and governance. The IPE series has tracked its development in both analysis and structure over the last three decades. It has always had a concentration on the global South. Now the South increas- ingly challenges the North as the centre of development, also reflected in a growing number of submissions and publications on indebted Eurozone economies in Southern Europe. An indispensable resource for scholars and researchers, the series examines a variety of capitalisms and connec- tions by focusing on emerging economies, companies and sectors, debates and policies. It informs diverse policy communities as the established trans-Atlantic North declines and ‘the rest’, especially the BRICS, rise. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13996 Ernest Garcia • Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias • Peadar Kirby Editors Transitioning to a Post-Carbon Society Degrowth, Austerity and Wellbeing Editors Ernest Garcia Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias University of Valencia University of Valencia Spain Spain Peadar Kirby University of Limerick Ireland International Political Economy Series ISBN 978-1-349-95175-8 ISBN 978-1-349-95176-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-349-95176-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947269 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Rob Friedman/iStockphoto.com Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan publishers Ltd. London A cknowledgements The idea for this book came out of the symposium “Better with less: Degrowth, austerity and well-being”, held in Valencia (Spain) in October 2014, within the framework of a research project supported by the Spanish National R&D Programme of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, under grant number CSO2011-24275. Chapters by Gras, Sempere, Garcia and Martinez-Iglesias, Raineau, Lerma Montero, Victor Climent Sanjuán and Vicens broadly follow several outcomes of the above men- tioned project. Chapters 2, 3 and 6 have been translated from the Spanish by James C. Kelly. Chapter 1 has been translated from the French and Chaps. 10, 11 and 12 from the Spanish, all of them by WordsFactory. v c ontents Part I Transition 1 1 The Deadlock of the Thermo-Industrial Civilization: The (Impossible?) Energy Transition in the Anthropocene 3 Alain Gras 2 Uncertainties, Inertia and Cognitive and Psychosocial Obstacles to a Smooth Transition 37 Joaquim Sempere 3 Towards the Post-Carbon Society: Searching for Signs of the Transition and Identifying Obstacles 57 Ernest Garcia & Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias 4 The Degrowth Imperative: Reducing Energy and Resource Consumption as an Essential Component in Achieving Carbon Budget Targets 87 John Wiseman & Samuel Alexander Part II Rethinking Austerity 109 5 Austerity Pasts, Austerity Futures? 111 Rebecca Bramall vii viii CONTENTS 6 Coffee, Toast and a Tip? Initial Reflections on the Transformation of the Self 131 Jorge Riechmann 7 Frugal Abundance in an Age of Limits: Envisioning a Degrowth Economy 159 Samuel Alexander Part III Case Studies 181 8 Cloughjordan Ecovillage: Modelling the Transition to a Low-Carbon Society 183 Peadar Kirby 9 Challenges for Wind Turbines in the Energy Transition: The Example of an Offshore Wind Farm in France 207 Laurence Raineau 10 Social Partners, Environmental Issues and New Challenges in the Post-Carbon Society 221 Victor Climent Sanjuán 11 Landfill Culture: Some Implications to Degrowth 235 Ignasi Lerma Montero 12 Social Actions Transformed in a Post- Carbon Transition: The Case of Barcelona 249 Jesús Vicens Erratum to: Social Partners, Environmental Issues and New Challenges in the Post-Carbon Society E1 Conclusion 267 Ernest Garcia, Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias & Peadar Kirby References 277 Index 279 n c ote on ontributors Samuel Alexander is a research fellow with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute and lecturer with the Office for Environmental Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia. He teaches a postgraduate course called “Consumerism and the Growth Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” into the Masters of Environment. He is also co-director of the Simplicity Institute. He is author of Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015), Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever (2015) and Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013), as well as editor of Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture (2009) and co-editor of Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future (2014). Rebecca Bramall is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. She is the author of The Cultural Politics of Austerity (2013) and recently edited a special issue of New Formations on the theme of “Austerity Future” (2016). Ernest Garcia is Professor of Sociology at the University of Valencia (Spain), Faculty of Social Sciences. His main field of research is environmental s ociology. He is the author of Medio ambiente y sociedad: la civilización industrial y los límites del planeta (2004). Alain Gras is Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-S orbonne (France), Faculty of Philosophy. His main field of research is the socio-anthropol- ogy of technology. He is the author of Fragilité de la puissance (2003) and Le choix du feu: Aux origines de la crise climatique (2007). Peadar Kirby is Professor Emeritus of International Politics and Public Policy, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick ix x NOTE ON CONTRIBUTORS (Ireland). Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavik. He is the author of Celtic Tiger in Collapse (2010). Ignacio Lerma Montero is University School Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Valencia (Spain). He has been Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2005–2012), and coordinator of the Environmental Sociology Network of the Spanish Sociological Association (FES). His research projects have addressed issues concerning citizens’ participation in ecological politics, socio-ecological conflicts and socio-labour policies. Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias is an environmental sociologist and she has been an associate professor and research technician at the University of Valencia (Spain). Since 2009, she has been an elected member of the Coordination Board of the Environment and Society Research Network (RN12) of the European Sociological Association (ESA). She has edited Experts and Campaigners: Scientific Information and Collective Action in Socio- Ecological Conflicts (2014). Laurence Raineau is assistant professor (Maître de Conférences) at University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and researcher at the CETCOPRA (Centre d’étude des techniques, des connaissances et des pratiques). She works on the socio- anthropological aspects of the energy transition and on collective representations of nature. Her latest researches focus on the articulation of local and global scales facing the environmental issues, on nuclear waste management and on environ- mental controversies. Jorge  Riechmann is a professor of moral philosophy at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), essayist and poet. He has worked in fields such as sociology of the new social movements and green parties, environmental sociology, environmental ethics and eco-socialist political philosophy. Blog: http://www.tratarde.org. Victor Climent Sanjuán is a professor of sociology at the University of Barcelona, Department of Sociology. He is specialized in labour market, business and envi- ronment. His main contributions in the last few years are related to large compa- nies’ new environmental management as a response to citizens’ demands and the new social and economic consequences arising from this new strategic framework. Joaquim Sempere is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Barcelona. He is specialized in environmental sociology. He has con- ducted research and published on human needs and wants, the role of experts in environmental social movements and the social effects of ecological crisis. He has written, among other books, Mejor con menos: Necesidades, explosión consumista y crisis ecológica (Better with less: needs, consumerist explosion and ecological crisis) (2009).